What is the Blank Space campaign?
Currently, women who are widowed and unmarried have to undergo a traumatic and extremely unclear (and often costly) court process to register their partner’s name on their baby’s birth certificate.
More and more couples are choosing to live together without getting married. In 2022, the number of children born outside marriage in the UK surpassed the number of babies born to parents who were married or in a civil partnership for the first time since records began in 1845, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
We believe the system is outdated and not fit for purpose. We also believe this is a direct contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7.1:
The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.
We are working to support those who are currently trying to make sure their baby’s father is acknowledged and to affect change.
We believe that women whose partners have died during pregnancy need a clear and simple process to register their partner on their child’s birth certificate.
We don’t believe it’s fair that some babies have a Blank Space on their birth certificate where their father’s name should be…
That’s why we are launching our Blank Space campaign this autumn.
To get involved
If you’ve been affected by this injustice, do get in touch. One of the things we are keen to document is how many people have been affected. And we also need people who are willing to share their stories to help change the system for women facing these unfair hurdles in future.
Please sign up to the mailing list for our Blank Space Campaign so we can keep you up to date with all the latest news
We will be sharing more information in due course. Do get in touch if you’d like to be involved in any way via enquiries@widowedandyoung.org.uk